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Saturday, 19 July 2014

My TEDx Story

Hi Guys. This is a bit of a different post to something I normally do but I really wanted to share my experience with you, so I hope you enjoy..

After months of preparation, on a Friday afternoon in April, my friend Liviy and I stood up in front of over 200 people a did a presentation which was filmed and put on YouTube. It was one of the craziest things I have ever done, we were absolutely petrified but the experience was so exhilarating.

L-R, Me and Liviy

Our talk was on 'Femininity and Body Image' which is a pretty tough undertaking given the stigma around the concept of 'Feminism', even at college people would talk to us about it asking 'Are you a feminist?' an innocent enough question but we knew what they were implying. Bra burning, misandrist, you get the jist of the many stereotypes of a feminist. I think its sad that such a strong, empowering movement has got a bad representation purely because of how it has been documented in the media, just take a look at the Suffragettes for example.

Initially Liviy approached me in Autumn of 2013 and asked should we do this. I accepted not really knowing the full extend that I had let myself into. We spend months and months, planning, rehearsing and editing the script which we had to learn by heart. This preparation all came to a head in April..

The talk itself was met with such a positive response, it was pretty overwhelming. Complete strangers, friends and even esteemed teachers were coming up to us telling us how much they had enjoyed our talk and that it had really struck a cord with them. Liviy and I had to take some time out on a climbing frame to remind ourselves that yes we had actually done it!

I honestly couldn't have wished for a better partner. Liviy and I were good friends before but, I really think that this whole process brought us together even more. They say that you regret what you don't do more than what you do and I couldn't agree more. I don't regret doing the talk despite the stress and nerves and you know what? I am proud of us. Being able to overcome fear in order to deliver the talk was the most amazing feeling of relief and elation.

The talk sort of speaks for itself with regards to its message, so have a watch and see what you think.

2 comments:

I love your writing, you write with such maturity and it always want to read on. I myself have been lucky enough to attend a TED talk and your talk which you linked below was on par with the top speakers. Truly inspirational!